Sony Vaio laptops are HOT... hot enough to burn you and warp. Sony believes it can fix that problem with a simple BIOS update.

Sony to recall over 500,000 notebooks worldwide

Apple
is one company that's known for its slick tightly packaged hardware.
Another company that can stake a claim to that niche is Sony.
Perhaps coincidentally both companies have suffered from some serious
overheating issues in recent years.

We reportedly
that the recent refresh to the MacBook Pro lineup spiked temperatures
up over
100 degrees Celsius. Now rival Sony's F- and C-Series Vaio
laptops are experiencing a "temperature-control defect",
which is causing some of its laptops to get hot enough to "cause
skin burns."

Alarmingly, the heat is reportedly so
extreme that it can actually warp the shape of the laptop, according
to Sony.

Sony is recalling 535,000
units sold since January 2010. That recall breaks down to
259,000 laptops in the U.S., 103,000 in Europe, 120,000 in Asia and
52,000 in Japan. Sony, based out of Japan says that within
Japan it hasn't had any overheating reports, but has received 39
complaints within the U.S. and elsewhere.

The company has set
up a
page to tell you if you're affected based on your serial
number found on your barcode. If it is, you can participate in
the recall by downloading a firmware update from Sony. It's
unclear whether this BIOS update merely clocks down and/or undervolts
the processor, or how exactly it accomplishes its cooler
operations.

If your Sony Vaio laptop has been damaged by
overheating, you should contact Sony for a replacement.

The
bad news comes amid a happy fiscal year for Sony which sees the
company finally looking to return to profitability. The
company's gaming and TV business
units have struggled over the past couple years, but are finally
picking up.

"Google fired a shot heard 'round the world, and now a second American company has answered the call to defend the rights of the Chinese people." -- Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.)